Rescue
by StarWishing
Summary: It was an accident, he got caught up in nothing more than a car crash. Right? At least that's what Jack thinks, but when things don't add up he starts to uncover ties and secrets that were best left alone. Who knew that one incident could be tied to so many people, and to an interwoven history of two worlds. Things will never be the same, and no one is left unaffected.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Started out as a one-shot, but one thing led to another and I'm continuing the story.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Transformers... hmm... but if I did...**

**Warning: Graphic. If you don't like blood than this probably isn't for you. A little cussing but not a whole lot. **

If Jack could feel his face, he would have cried at the sight before him. Mangled and battered, were the remains his mom's car. Another car crunched up against it, horn blaring incessantly, and the sound of ticking from cooling metal wafted through the air. When his mom found out that he had crashed her car, he would be in big trouble. It looked like the driver of the other car was slumped over the steering wheel… But it was hard to tell when you're looking at it laying on your side…

_What happened…_ he thought sluggishly. His right side, the side he was laying on, felt extremely warm… and wet, while his legs weren't in the best position for lying down. It felt as if something was crawling through his hair, moving slowly.

He groaned, for some reason he hurt, a dull throbbing that echoed throughout his whole body. He considered sitting up, before shrugging the idea off. He was too tired, why he had no idea.

Again the question swam through his foggy thoughts. _What happened…?_ It felt as if he had just drunk an energy drink and gotten the buzz and crash at the same time. His hands tingled while his lids drooped involuntarily.

He looked towards the cars again; the blaring from the car was really starting to grate on his nerves. Jack moaned and moved to rub his face with his available hand. When hand came into contacted with his face, he felt something wet rub off his hand.

He brought his hand away from his face, trying to see what it was. His eyes widened as he realized what his hand was covered in. _Blood._

Suddenly aware of how much pain he was in he tried to sit up; tried in the sense that he weakly raised his head, before he got to dizzy to continue. He shakily brought his hand up to his head, feeling through his hair until he came to where he thought bugs had been crawling around. More blood.

He was scared now, his mind racing to find out what had happened. Dimly the memory of borrowing his mom's car, and it breaking down came to him. He remembered getting out to check the engine and calling his mom. He was telling her that he was going to be a little late. He remembered the sound of a car coming; the only thing that separated it from any other car was the sound of its engine, which kept increasing.

He only remembered fragments after that. Glaring headlights… the sound of metal on metal… the blurred black metal coming out of nowhere… The pain… Jack groaned as he felt the exact same pain sweeping through him right now. He hadn't been hit directly right?

For the first time Jack noticed how dark it was. The only light source coming from the cars shattered headlights and the moon.

He tried to sit up. He had to call help, he was hurting, but he didn't know how bad the other person was. He managed to get both hands underneath him, and he found them being warmed by a puddle that had accumulated underneath him. He knew what it was without even looking, it was dripping off the side of his head, and clung to him with his shirt. He could smell it too. Blood… blood that had been flowing through his body, and was now flowing through the cracks in the pavement.

The higher he lifted his head, the dizzier he got, but he kept going. The fire on his right side hadn't disappeared, but had grown, and he felt blood soaking his pants. And without looking he could tell from the throbbing of his leg that it was broken. All in all, he was hurting… badly…

He felt the tears welling in his eyes when he tried to stand, before the pain became too much and he went back down to his hands and knees. He felt extremely warm and flushed. His arms felt so weak…

_Wake up!_ He screamed at himself. His eyes snapped open and he realized that he had lain back down. Struggling with drowsiness, he sat up and fighting the fear that made his limbs tremble. Jack knew that if he fell asleep he wouldn't wake up again. Not alive at least.

He had been there with his mom enough to know when someone was dying. Once, they came across a car wreck like this. His mom had performed what she could with the medical kit she carried around, but the man was so messed up, that she had to try and make conversation with him, she tried to keep him awake. But he eventually fell unconscious, he had been only seven, and had been extremely scared when his mom started yelling at the man to stay awake. The ambulance made it to the scene not long after that, but they were to late...

He had been that close to falling asleep, that close to dying. If he had let himself drift off, he would have bleed to death. He couldn't stop shaking now that he realized how close he was to dying.

He wasn't ready to die.

Jack started looking around for his phone, he needed to call 9-1-1. His eyes roved around, and began searching closer and closer to the crash. Finally he spotted lying underneath the cars.

Ignoring the pain that laced up his leg and side, he pushed himself up to his hand and knees and began crawling towards the mess. He started a conversation with himself trying to keep his mind alert and stay away from getting drowsy. "Come on Jack, the phone's right over there… Right underneath the car… You can do this…"

He made his way slowly, leaving a bloody trail behind him, and reached the cars after what felt like one of the most painful moments of his life. He stopped for a moment to let the dizziness subside, but after a few seconds it still continued to swim in his vision.

Reaching underneath the car, he tried to grab the phone, but it was too far back. With no other option, he lowered himself slowly onto his front and began inching his way underneath the car.

"Come on… You can do this… Just call 9-1-1 and help will come…" He told himself moving forward slowly. Reaching forward again, his fingers brushed the edge of the phone, but he couldn't completely grab it. Moving forward another few inches he gritted his teeth and was finally able to grab it.

Clutching it like it was gold, Jack slowly began circling around and get back out. He began following his blood trail that he had left. The sound of the evenly placed ticking was almost as annoying as the blare of the horn and Jack tried to tune it out. Outside of the clicking of cooling metal and the sound of steam hissing, Jack heard something.

An engine.

He felt a surge of hope at the sound, but stopped and listened more intently, it would be just like him to imagine another car coming by. After a few seconds though, his hope solidified when the sound didn't disappear. _They can help,_ he thought beginning to crawl out. His sense of optimism increased as he thought of being found, and living.

The sound of the car was quickly growing louder, and Jack began moving faster as well. "Move it Jack… Faster…"

He could feel the thrum through the ground as he reached the edge of the car. Ignoring the pain that was coming from his leg and side, he rolled over and grabbed the edge of the car, pulling himself out and leaving bloody handprints on the car side. _They'll stop, won't they? You're supposed to stop at a crash. They have to stop!_ He felt himself panicking, as he yanked and dragged his useless leg behind him.

"Move Jack move!" he ordered himself.

The light from the incoming car, lite up the other side of the car as he finished pulling himself out. They could help, they could save him.

He didn't want to die.

Even if it was an old grandma, she could at least give a better description of the scene than he could. She could try and help stop the bleeding, and call 9-1-1, heck; she could help keep him awake. His dizziness had only increased and he felt himself shaking; from blood loss, adrenaline, or the pain he couldn't tell. He wanted them to stop, _needed _them to stop, as he realized how close he was to passing out.

The sound coming from the car wasn't the sound of it slowing down, but of it speeding up. Jack watched in horror as the blurred flash of headlights, metal and taillights flew by.

"Wait!" he yelled, struggling to stand up. Maybe they hadn't seen him, maybe they would still stop. They had too.

"Wait!" he tried again rising to his knees or more to be correct, one knee, his broken leg refusing to take any weight whatsoever. He waved his arms back and forth and ignoring the pain flashing up his side. The car continued traveling up the road, and eventually turned around a corner.

"No! Stop!" he screamed his voice going horse as he wobbled onto one leg. He felt tears well in his eyes. "Please! Come back!" he screamed again at the long gone car.

Jack stared at where the car had disappeared, shock written on his face as his lips quivered. He slowly began sinking back to the ground, and ended up falling on his good side.

"Please…" he repeated in a whisper, feeling tears start spilling down his face. He wanted to close his eyes, to just end everything; he wanted the horror of the moment to go away.

But he didn't want to die.

He tiredly sat up, and realized that he had agitated his side again, blood pouring down in warm sheets to soak his shirt and pants. Numbly he opened his hand to stare at the phone.

A picture of him and his mom adorned the screen, and although cracks now flashed across it, he remembered the when the image had been taken perfectly.

It had been a few months ago, right before school had ended. His mom, June, and wanted a picture of them at her favorite spot. It was a small lookout that dotted the Nevada desert, the sun setting in the distance. And even though it had taken them several tries they found one that they both liked.

He had saved one of their rejects on his phone though. She was playfully punching him in the shoulder from something he had said, while he was laughing and pretending to be assaulted. He liked the photo, not because he could mess with his mom with it, but because it had more life to it. The picture held more vibrant, and a real life look to it.

His eyes almost closed on him, and he jerked upright in an attempt to stay awake. He was also feeling more and more detached from the scene by the minute,

Jack started dialing quickly, 9-1-1 first.

After the second ring a lady picked it up, "9-1-1, what is your emergency?"

He opened his mouth to speak, but a spiking pain shot up his side and he let out a moan.

"What is your emergency?" she asked a little more forcefully.

Jack found his voice again, now noticing how strange it sounded and the trembling that laced it, "A-a car wreck. It's one the freeway just a f-few minutes after the Cipher t-turnoff."

He listened as she relayed the information then began speaking with him. "Ok, help is on the way, are you the only one hurt or is the other driver injured?"

"I-I can't tell. H-he's unconscious in his car still."

"Can you go check?"

Jack looked down at his leg. "I c-can't my legs broken."

"Ok, just stay where you are."

Jack gritted his teeth, help was on the way, and he hoped they didn't take too long. But he needed help immediately. Holding the phone away from his ear, he ended the call. Leaving bloody streaks on the phone screen he scrolled down until he came to one of his contacts under 'emergency'.

He hit the send button and waited, gritting his teeth as he became so dizzy that he nearly fell over. He listened to it ring on the other side, trying to hear it over the sound of the horn and the consistent ticking. After several rings, the sound of a grouch answer came through, "This is for emergencies only!"

Jack had never been so glad to hear the gruff voice in his life, "Ratchet… I-It is an emergency." He said feeling incredibly tired. "The car broke down and I got out to fix it, and another car came, and, and-"

"Calm down." Ratchets said, his voice making a 180. "Keep talking to me, and I'll pinpoint you location."

"O-ok." Jack said feeling scared, Ratchet never talked like this. Well, he did once, but that was when Optimus was infected with the Cybertronian plague. "Is Optimus t-there?"

"No," Ratchet answered, "Everyone else is on patrol."

Jack felt another bout of dizziness hit him and his head nodded as he closed his eyes.

"Are you ok? Are you injured?" Ratchet said to him, bringing him out of his trance.

"Um," Jack stumbled a little bit opening his eyes. "My right leg is broken."

"Where?"

"A-above the knee," Jack mumbled gesturing towards his leg, and then realized that Ratchet couldn't see him point. "Maybe a h-half a foot above my knee." He corrected, feeling dizzy again, "My right side w-won't stop bleeding though. And I've lost a lot of…"

Jack let the words sit there as he realized just how much blood he had lost. Looking, he saw a small puddle sit where he had gained consciousness, and bloody streak led under the car, then to where he was sitting now. Handprints were smeared against the warped metal of the car, and his he was now creating a new puddle where he was sitting.

"Jack?! You've lost a lot of what?!" Ratchet urged.

"Holy Fuck…" Jack breath, feeling his face pale as he began comprehending what he was looking at, "I've lost so much b-blood!"

"Jack! Keep talking to me! How bad is it?" Ratchet said.

"R-ratchet?" Jack said feeling faint. "I-I don't want t-to die…" Jack heard the desperation and fear in his voice, hating how weak he must sound. He had always tried to be strong, showing that he could take care of himself and others need be. But here, he felt helpless, scared of what might happen. He wanted reassurance.

He didn't want to die.

"Just hang in there," Ratchet said trying to sooth him.

"I don't w-want to d-die." he said again, his voice cracking. Spots swam in his vision and he felt so dizzy he thought he was going to be sick.

"Jack you're not going to die."

"I-I d-don't w-w-want t-to die!" Jack said feeling whatever he had been holding back break. His stomach lurched and he leaned over and puked. His stomach fluids as well as blood came up and splattered on the pavement. He felt tears slide down his cheeks and sobs escaped his throat. He tried to cover his right side, ignoring the pain as his arm came into contact with the injury, and began shaking his head in denial. This wasn't happening! It was a dream it couldn't be a dream, he couldn't die!

"Jack! Listen to me!" Ratchet yelled.

It took several tries, but Jack eventually stopped, subsiding into whimpering and letting out small hiccup sobs.

"Listen, I want you to control your breathing, take a deep breath, and then let it out."

Jack did it.

"Good now keep doing that."

Jack did as Ratchet said, breathing in and out slowly and deeply. He kept his arm pinned to his side, in hopes that it would slow down his bleeding, not that it made the biggest difference now. And right now, he was fighting a welling panic that was growing in his stomach. It tried to escape every time he felt blood slide down his arm, or whenever he let out a sob. But the breathing helped him keep it at bay.

A green flash came from his right, and he looked to see the swirling mass of the ground bridge. He stared at it for a second, before he recognized the implications it brought. Again, he felt his hopes soar, hopes that he would be saved, be rescued.

When the familiar form of Ratchet came through, he felt giddy. He felt a sense of gratitude, and sudden trust that Jack didn't know he was capable of having towards the medic.

Jack melted into a feeling of peace, as another dizzy bout, knocked him unconscious.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Decided to do a second chapter just so I don't keep you guys in the dark. Also an idea just popped into my head and won't leave me alone. So I might be continuing this story after this chapter. Meh, who knows?**

**Disclaimers: Forgot to say this the first Chap, but I don't own anything. Nothing except the plot which sadly is being created on a whim…**

**Warning: This is gory, seriously. If you have trouble handling blood, guts, and all that jazz then you probably shouldn't read this. Also Characters may be a little OOC, sorry.**

Chapter Two:

Ratchet finished punching in the codes and flipped the switch to activate the ground bridge. He heard Jack take in a shaky breath, hold it, and then let it out.

"Good now keep doing that," he said moving quickly towards bridge and waited impatiently as it warmed up to open.

He began walking, before opting to jogging. He had never heard the eldest charge sound this scared. Jack had always been so level-headed and calm. He always thought out what he was going to say before he said it. As far as Ratchet knew, Jack had always tried to push down his fear and act strong for them.

Ratchet had come accustomed the sound a dying Mech. Soldier after soldier on the field had sounded like Jack had just sounded at one point or another. He had heard it from Mech's that had gone down in the battlefield, calling through the comms with panic in their voices, while they tried to keep calm, stay brave in the hopes that help would come. He had heard it from Mech's on the medical berth as they slipped away. He had heard it before he performed dangerous operations and last ditch efforts.

It wasn't a tone that Ratchet enjoyed, and he had gotten more than his fair share of it during the war. Being a medic, he was required to keep a cool head while he did his best to patch up the wounded. He was expected to be able to save them, to fix them and pump Energon back into their cables.

When Ratchet had responded to Jack's call, he had been irked that Jack was interrupting him, and he had let it show through his voice. But Jacks answer had evaporated all of his irritation, because the way that Jack spoke…

He sounded like a dying soldier.

The ground bridge finished forming and Ratchet quickly made his way through, ignoring the tingle of static electricity that danced through his frame as he did so. He had already comm-ed Bumblebee as he was the closest to base and informed him on the situation, and he was now on his way back. He could inform the others later; right now he had to see just how bad Jack's situation was.

Walking out of the green swirls of energy, Ratchet's optics locked onto Jack and his surroundings, and he hardened his gaze.

Jack was leaning a small pool of his own blood, his cloths, hair, and face with similar amounts of blood plastered to them. A smaller pool laid farther to the side, a trail leading underneath the cars, while another trail led to where Jack was laying now. One of the cars he could identify as Jack's mother's while the other held another human slumped over in the seat.

He returned his gaze to Jack who was looking at him in shock, and Ratchet realized that that he wasn't just surprised. Jack was in shock.

Ratchet had read up on human biology and medicine and recognized the symptoms that Jack was showing. Ratchet began walking towards Jack, and was surprised when Jack gave him a confident smile and passed out.

Moving quickly, he kneeled over Jack and lifting him as carefully and gently as he could. Holding him close to his chassis, Ratchet made his way towards the still open ground bridge and scanned the surrounding area for any possible threats. Even though he knew that the other human in the car had most likely caused the wreck, old habits die hard.

For some reason a thin black piece of metal caught his attention and without missing a beat he bent over and grabbed it. Ratchet gave it a quick once over before he sub-spaced it, and made a mental note to look at it later.

Moving as fast as he could without jarring the adolescent he was carrying, he came back through the ground bridge to see that Bumblebee was already there.

Bumblebee's optics widened at the bloody mess he was carrying and issued a chain of clicks and whirling questions.

Ratchet answered all of them as he walked towards the medic bay, "No, he's alive… I need you to shut down the ground bridge, than open it for Optimus, then Bulkhead, then Smokescreen, then Arcee. In that order OK? Don't comm them, just tell them what's going on when they enter the base… No, do _not _tell the kids… Yes you need to tell June, but only after Optimus gets back."

As he headed towards the med-bay he began scanning Jack. He knew that the humans didn't like it when he did, but he had assured them that it was harmless and had explained to June Darby that it was a lot like a CAT scan, an MRI, and an X-ray all in one. The scan was also a lot more accurate than what humans currently had.

The results he got were a little more than disturbing and he moved all the faster because of them.

Stepping into the brightly lit room that he considered 'his', Ratchet set Jack down gently on one of the berths and for the first time in eons felt nervous. He was an expert on Cybertronian anatomy, he could reattach a missing limb in fewer than two Breems and could find a virus implanted into a processor in four Kliks. But Jack wasn't a Cybertronian, he was an organic. Could he even _perform _on him?

He had to get rid of an obvious problem right away though. Spinning around he shouted through the doorway. "Bumblebee! After Optimus get June here! And hurry!"

Size difference was a problem. His large fingers would more likely cause more damage than treat, and the human body had so many delicate parts. Even if he could somehow treat Jack, he wouldn't know what to do. He was a _Cybertronian _medic, he had trained to patch up, wield, and soldier Mechs and Femmes back together, he hadn't trained to fix organics.

After the incident with Rafael, Ratchet had asked June as politely as he could if she could teach him the basics in human anatomy and medical treatment. She had agreed and for the past few weeks he had learned a good deal. Of course she credited it to a mind that could recall every single detail, but he prided himself in knowledge and never forgot anything medical related.

He knew all of the basics: the human anatomy and what their functions were. What was considered healthy blood pressure, and heart beats per minute. How vital oxygen and water was to the body, and how to much or lack of, affected the human bodies systems. Bruising, lacerations, hemorrhaging, fracture; all of it was committed to memory in case that he needed to use it.

He had just never felt so… hesitant.

With no practice he was now in a situation where if he did anything wrong Jack would die. It wasn't Jack dying that made him feel so apprehensive however, but the rest of the team's reaction to the loss.

All of this went through his processor as he moved to grab the mass of human medical instruments and tools that June had made Fowler buy. Moving it all onto the berth, he moved Jack onto a human bed that had come with the rest of the medical supplies and furrowed an optic in concentration.

With quick precise movements he removed Jack's clothing, cutting it and pealing it carefully away from his skin. There was no time for modesty and they would only impede June's efficiency.

Recalling June's instruction on what to do, he moved his fingers through the piles of supplies and grabbed a large pad. Moving back to Jack he lightly pressed the pad against the side which was cause of most of the blood loss and had the most horrendous looking wound.

It was devoid of skin; the organ either peeled or scrapped of during the incident. A good deal of muscle was missing too, and the severed meat looked a lot like frayed wires, strands sticking out at random. In fact so much had been scrapped off that his lower rib cage was showing, a startling white among the bright red.

The scrap extended from a few inches below the armpit all the way down to his hip with the edges looking like they had been attacked by a hacksaw, strands of skin hanging loosely and puckered muscle an angry red. And speckled throughout the whole patch was concrete and strands of shirt. Blood mixed everything together in a soupy mix that gave it a rather catastrophic look and Ratchet could only hope that June could handle it.

Holding the pad against the side to reduce the bleeding Ratchet recalled his scan to look at the next biggest threat to Jack's life.

It wasn't the leg, the bone had splintered and the lower part of humorous had been pushed up. Overall the leg was several inches shorter than its counterpart, and a painful looking bulge was evident where the bone was pressing against the skin.

The cut on his head wasn't it either, even though head wounds were heavy bleeders. The laceration looked like someone had taken a knife and began the process of separating the scalp from the skull. Starting a little below the hairline and directly above the left eye, it cut through his hair and followed the line all the way to the base of his neck. Ratchet knew that the cut reached the skull, but it wasn't visible through the mat of plastered red-and-black hair.

There were several other smaller wounds that were superficial and Ratchet had to initiate his scan again just to be sure that there wasn't a glitch in his memories.

Somehow, Jack had a cut in one of his lungs.

The cut itself wasn't that big, and it wasn't bleeding as far as Ratchet could tell, but it was deflating. Every time he breathed in, small bubbles of air would slip out of the lung and during the next breath the lung would have that much less room. A substantial pocket of air had already accumulated between the muscle and lung and the lung had shrunk to a third of its size.

If Ratchet didn't know any better he would have said that the cut looked like it was caused from pressure, like being squeezed...

The sound of an engine rang loudly throughout the room and Ratchet turned to find Bumblebee to come roaring through the entrance. Before he could his tirade on the yellow Bot the driver's door flew open and a slightly frazzled June was dispelled from the car. Forgetting completely about Bumblebee, Ratchet bent down and scooped up her up.

"Ratchet! What is going one? All I could get from Bumblebee was that it had something to do with Jack…" June said, trailing off as she beheld Jack.

"Jack!"

"Miss Darby," Ratchet said causing her to glance up at him. "I know that this is going to be hard for you, but I am unable to perform a surgery that Jack clearly needs and need you to do it."

Ratchet had been mentally preparing for June to explode, and for her to deny that she was going to be the one that had to save Jack. So it came as a shock when her eyes set and she nodded.

"Alright, do you have any gloves? What's the diagnostic?"

Ratchet: hiding his surprise, handed her a box of gloves and replied as she slipped some on, "Laceration on the head, his right lung is collapsing, and road rash has taken most of his left side away."

If June was surprised she didn't show it, instead she moved a tray that held an assortment of tools next to the bed and ripped off the plastic that covered the whole thing. Situating a few other trays around she then turned toward Jack.

The pad that Ratchet had pressed against Jack's side was stained a dark red and Ratchet assumed that June would try to treat that first, but instead she took a cotton swab and started wiping Jack's chest clean of any dirt and blood.

"Miss Darby, shouldn't you focus on his side?"

She didn't even pause and continued to sterilize as she replied. "You the one that said his lung was deflating. It will be a lot harder for me if I leave it for later."

Flicking the wipe swab away, June rolled up her sleeves and grabbed a thin, syringe. Her finger danced along his chest until it came to certain point between two ribs and she looked up. "Is the air pocket here?"

Ratchet looked and nodded, "Yes."

Nodding, June tilted the syringe and plunged it in slowly. She stopped when she started pulling in air and filled the syringe fully. She pulled it out, emptied it, and then pushed the needle back into Jack's chest.

This time she was slower, and she had Ratchet direct her so that she pulled out all of the oxygen. Ratchet was skeptical that it was that simple, but when no more air escaped the lung, and Jack's breathing grew easier he let it slide.

"Ratchet, what is Jack's blood count?" June asked moving over to the supplies and pulling out an IV hook, a bag, and a clear fluid.

Ratchet scanned Jack and relayed the information to June. "His blood count is currently at five pints."

June looked up alarmed, "Do you know what his normal count is?"

Ratchet looked back at Jack, "His normal blood count as of last month was eight pints." He watched as June hurried and emptied the clear fluid into the bag. "Why do you ask?"

June didn't reply, but instead moved back to the supplies and grabbed a needle along with some clear tubing. Connecting the tube to the bag, June rubbed the crook of her arm until she found a vein and pushed the needle in. Bright red blood moved through the tube and began dribble into the bags clear fluid, mixing and diluting.

Holding her arm higher than the bag, June moved the IV hook over besides Jack's good side and grabbed a few more things.

Once she was happy with the mixture in the bag she pulled out the needle and slapped a piece of tape onto her arm. Connecting another tube and needle to the back she placed it on the IV hook and jabbed the needle into Jack's hand.

As if she had electrocuted him, Jack started convulsing and scared both June and Ratchet. A horrible sound was coming from the back of his throat as his muscles clenched and his arms started flying. It was a

June jumped into action, reaching over and forcefully held both of his arms at his side. Jack seemed to fight all the harder, his legs thrashing and head whipping back and forth. The sound of his broken leg's bones grating, his screaming, and the faint sound of squelching caused even Ratchet to frown. Arching his back, Jack started to lift both June and himself off the bed and June had to use her whole body to bring him back down.

"Ratchet hold him!" June shouted over Jacks screaming. Ratchet didn't know what she was going to do, but switched her position with one of his hands. He was surprise by the amount of force that Jack was pushing against his hand and had to tighten his grip.

With almost practiced eased June moved up, and stopped Jack's head before delivering a sharp jab to the neck. Jack's movements stopped instantly and June was moved to reattach the IV which had been ripped free.

Ratchet hesitantly removed his hand and waited for Jack to make another move. When he didn't Ratchet gave June an incredulous stare.

"Pressure point," June said noticing his stare. She moved back over to the boxes and supplies and rummaged around for a few seconds before looking up at Ratchet. "Is there any pain relievers here? How about sedatives?"

Ratchet shook his head, "No, they are still on the way."

June let out a shaky sighed and wiped her cheeks with her forearms. "Can you get someone to go find some? We're going to need them real soon."

Ratchet nodded and turned to walk towards the door, "I'll go retrieve them myself."

"Please," June replied slowly peeling the edge of the blood-soaked bandage away from Jack's side and grimacing. Reaching over she grabbed a pair of fine tweezers and started working.

Making his way out, Ratchet barely gave Optimus and Arcee a glance as he moved to the main room and began searching on one of the consuls. Finding what he was looking for he powered up the ground bridge and disappeared.

Dock laborers in New York would wondered the next day, how a ship container full of Oxymorphone, and Fentanyl could disappeared overnight.

**A/N: I'm sorry for the stupid ending... Hopefully I can have the next chapter up by next week, and you'll know whether or not Jack survived. I feel bad that I didn't get it in this sorry for the cliff-y, anticlimactic ending.**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Hey, here's chapter three up and running and I just want to apologize for any mistakes you might find in advance.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything. I probably wouldn't be here if I did.**

**Warning: None**

Chapter Three:

"_Once upon a time…"_

"_There was a farmer named Jack. Right mom?"_

"_Yes. There was a farmer named Jack. Now Jack lived alone with his mother-"_

"_Was her name June? Just like you?"_

"_Of course. Now both of them were poor and all they had left was their cow. One day the mother said to Jack, 'We have nothing left. Go sell the cow so that we have something to eat tonight.' Jack did as his mother said and took the cow to the market. While he was trying to sell the cow he came across a man who claimed to have a special key."_

"_Don't you mean beans?"_

"_The man said, 'This key holds answers to your questions. If you give me your cow, I'll give you this key.' Captivated by the key Jack traded the cow for the key and ran all the way home to his mother."_

"_That's not how the story goes. It wasn't a key. it was beans mom, beans."_

"_Are you sure?"_

"_Yes!"_

"_Jack, can you promise me something?"_

"_What about the story?"_

"_Promise that you'll never give up. No matter how tough the situation is, or how daunting the task. Never give up."_

"_I promise… But mom?"_

"_Yes?"_

"_What does 'daunting' mean?"_

"_Don't worry about it. We can finish the story later if you w-w-want."_

"_Mom?"_

"_D-D-Don't worry ab-b-bout it. Now Jack y-y-you need-d to make sure t-to look both w-w-ways for c-c-c-cars."_

"_Mom?"_

"_D-D-Don't worry ab-b-b-b-bout it."_

_The blackness suddenly evaporated and Jack found himself in front of a car with its hood up. The night sky shown down from above and the headlights gave him plenty of light to see with. _

_Confused Jack turned around as the sound of screeching filled the night air and a car came hurtling around the corner. As the car came flying forward, Jack took a cautious step back, putting his car in-between him and the reckless driver. Better to be safer than sorry. The car would go by and then he could see what was wrong with the-_

_Jack's eyes widened as the car suddenly swerved and headed straight towards him and realized that even with a car between them, he didn't feel safe. Backpedalling frantically, time seemed to slow as the car crashed into his. _

_Metal on metal. The crunch of glass. Lights and shadows. Pain; side erupting in agony. Screaming. The squeal of metal. Gunfire._

…

…

The first thing that Jack felt as he came to was numb. It was like his whole body had fallen asleep, only without the pain and felt extremely strange. The only thing he really could do was open his eyes and he didn't want to yet. Even though the feeling of being numb was rather weird he was still too comfortable to fully wake up.

He remained still and let listened to his pulse trying to piece the past day together. Wasn't today Tuesday? He was probably late for school then, but Jack couldn't find it in himself to care. He was just too tired. His mom would be furious, but she would have to deal with it.

If he skipped school he would have to get up till around three to get ready for work, which meant he had time. Letting himself relax he tried to figure out why he was so tired, but let it go after a few minutes. If it didn't come right now he would remember later.

His indifference surprised him. He _never_ missed school, not even when he got sick. He must be really tired…

…

…

When Jack came to again he immediately wished that he hadn't. He _hurt_. The pain was like a deep ache that seemed to be set in every cell, pounding with every heartbeat.

Jack tried to lift his hand to feel his side, but gave up. His arm felt like it was incased in cement and it hurt to move. He forced himself to open his eyes, even though the bright light burned and look around. Was he in the Autobots med-bay?

He looked at the IV that was hooked up to him and watched the water drip. Since when had the Ratchet had an IV? Now that he thought about it, when had Ratchet had any of this stuff? Besides the human sized bed he was lying on, there was a pile of medical equipment large enough to stock a hospital.

Forcing himself to move he sat up rather painfully and realized that he wasn't wearing anything besides a pair of shorts. A rather spongy looking wrap was covering the side that burned and one of his legs was wrapped up in a cast.

Jack tried desperately to remember what had happened to him, but came up with a blank. Besides the bed there was a cart that held an assortment of tools along with a basin that held his ruined clothes and his phone. Reaching over with a shaky hand he grabbed it and flipped it open.

Growing more disturbed by the dried streak of blood on the screen, he quickly dialed his mom's number and held the phone to his ear.

The phone rang for several seconds before his moms rather frantic voice came over, "Jack!?"

"Mom what's going on?" Jack croaked realizing for the first time just how thirsty he was. He looked around for something to drink but couldn't find anything. "I just woke up and it looks like I got run over by a Con!"

"Hang on Jack I'll be over in just a minute." June said. Her voice reassuring.

"Yeah, got it." Jack rasped lying back down and trying to slow down his pounding heart. The dull ache had turned into a fiery burn and he pressed his arm against his side lightly to try and reduce it.

"Jack you still on?" June asked.

"Yeah," Jack breathed. He dried swallowed and tried to create some saliva. His mouth felt like it was full of cotton.

Closing his eyes he took several deep breathes and ignored the pain in his side. Something was wrong with his chest. It hurt to breath. Feeling the skin above the pain he was surprised to find another bandage there and mentally shrugged. Compared to the bandage on his side this was nothing, and if there was something wrong with his chest than Ratchet and his mom would have taken care of it.

He sat up as the door opened and Ratchet walked in carrying a data pad.

"Wrecker and their stupid gun-ho attitude. I'll magnetize his feet to the floor... Let's see him destroy one of my-" Ratchet grumbled before looking up and freezing when he saw Jack.

Jack offered a weak smile, "Did Bulkhead destroy one of your tools?"

Ratchet's optics shuttered for a second and Jack suddenly felt a tingle crawling up his body causing him to shudder.

"Well, at least your healing," Ratchet said once the tingling left and walked towards him. "How do you feel?"

"Thirsty," Jack said dry swallowing. When Ratchet gave him an incredulous Jack guessed that Ratchet was asking about his injuries. "Um, I actually hurt a lot."

Ratchet snorted, "I would be surprised if it didn't."

Jack ran his fingers over the bandage on his chest, "And it hurts to breathe." Feeling the tingling again he looked at Ratchet and noticed an almost transparent light emanating from his optics.

"Hmm… Well your lung isn't collapsing again. It must be the cut healing." Ratchet muttered finishing his scan.

"Wait what do you mean my lung collapsed?" Jack said alarmed removing his hand from the bandage so that he could look at it better. He had a cut in his lung? What had happened to cause that? He voiced his question, "What happened?"

Ratchet raised an optic in disbelief, "You don't remember?"

The door behind him opened and Arcee along with Optimus walked in. Arcee smiled warmly at him while Optimus looked between Jack and Ratchet.

"Hey partner how you feeling?" Arcee asked.

Jack shrugged lightly, "Ok considering. Hey Optimus." He said nodding at the red and blue Mech.

Optimus smiled and nodded, "Hello Jack. I am happy to see that you are doing better." Turning to Ratchet he looked like he was going to ask a question, but Ratchet beat him to it.

"What's the last thing you remember?"

Jack tore his gaze away from Arcee and Optimus, "What?"

"You said you don't remember what happened, what's the last thing you remember?" Ratchet demanded ignoring Optimus completely.

Jack thought hard for a moment. "I remember borrowing my mom's car because Arcee was busy with recon, and I remember the car breaking down, but after that everything just goes hazy." He looked up at Ratchet, "So what exactly did happen?"

Before he could answer the door opened again and Bumblebee walked in carrying June. "Jack!"

"Hey mom," Jack said sitting up a little more and disregarding the pain that laced up his side. If he took shallow breathes it was easier and the pain only felt like someone was sticking his sides with needles. His leg had a deep-set ache, but he could pass it off as receiving a dead-leg.

Setting June down Bumblebee moved back so he was standing next to Arcee and Optimus while June moved forward at a run.

Jack was prepared for the hug that his mom enveloped him in, but he couldn't hold back a hiss as his side bent painfully from the sudden movement. Hearing this, June quickly let go of him and gave him a hard look. "Don't scare me like that ever again!"

"Sorry," Jack muttered as June stood up and firmly but gently pushed him down until he was lying flat on his back. He was getting more and more frustrated _not_ knowing what happened while everyone else talked about it.

June sighed and began to remove the spongy bandage on his, saying jokingly "You're still grounded until your thirty."

Jack smiled at this as well as Arcee, but Ratchet didn't look all that happy. "Are you sure that's all you remember? Is there anything after that?"

Shaking his head Jack shivered as air met his side and answered, "Sorry Ratchet that's all that I can remember. If I could recall more-"

"What do you mean that's all you can remember?" June interrupted concern etched into her features. She turned to Ratchet when Jack didn't answer fast enough, "What does he not remember?!"

"Jack apparently cannot remember past your car breaking down," Ratchet said sounding irritated.

June looked back at Jack, "What do you remember exactly?"

Jack let out a frustrated sigh and tried to swallow, "I already told Ratchet. After the car broke down everything is just… jumbled together. So if someone could please tell me what happened I would greatly appreciate it!"

The room was silent for a second before Bumblebee issued a set of warbles and looked at Optimus questionably. Frowning Optimus shrugged and stepped forward directing Jack's attention his way. "To answer your question Jack, Ratchet received a call from you last night. From what you said in the call and what Ratchet saw, you were in a car wreck."

Optimus paused and watched as Jack digested the information with a worried look in his optics. Jack looked over at Arcee and Bumblebee to see them also sporting looks that told him that they were afraid of how he would react to the news, while his mom refused to meet his gaze.

Fighting to keep his expression neutral Jack asked softly, "How bad is it?"

June gave him a sad smile even though she didn't look at him directly and moved back to his side, "You got pretty bad road rash on your side and you broke your leg."

Jack gestured to the bandage on his chest, "What about my lung? Ratchet said that it collapsed?"

She gave Ratchet a side-glance before redirecting her attention to what she was doing. "It did." She said simply, "But I was thankfully able to stop it before it became too severe."

Jack absorbed the information and turned his attention so that he was staring resolutely at the ceiling as June began dabbing something on his side. Every time she touched his side it felt like she had placed molten-red coals in his side, but after she moved away the area went numb, making the pain durable.

He could see Arcee give him a worried look out of the corner of his eye, and said calmly, "How long?" He knew that his mom would understand.

Ratchet, along with everyone else looked rather confused at his question, but June stopped what she was doing and let out a tired sigh, "Your leg will take around six weeks to heal and the cut on your lung won't be a problem, but your side…" She fell silent for a second as if trying to find the right words to say.

The silence grew heavy and Bumblebee shifted from pede to pede nervously.

"How long," Jack asked softly.

"You lost a lot on your side," June finally stated returning to what she had been doing. "It's a lot worse than normal road rash and we were just lucky to get it to stop bleeding. It's hard to say." Standing up she looked up at Ratchet, "Can you grab a box of the pills? Now that he's awake we don't have to give it to him in liquid form."

Nodding Ratchet walked across the room and Jack turned his head so that he was looking at June. He tried to not let his fear show, but his voice still quivered, "Mom… How long?"

Looking at him with unshed tears June said, "Jack... Your side will probably never fully heal. I've done all I can, but they didn't even have anything to treat this in the hospitals."

Wiping her face, she watched as Ratchet returned carrying a crate while Jack processed the information he had been given. She couldn't be right about forever, she just couldn't. With hesitant hands he ran his hand along his skin until he reached the edge of his side. Since the bandage was gone he could have looked at it, and even though he was curious, deep down he knew that he didn't really want to see it. At least not yet. Closing his eyes he ran his fingers around the edge, tracing it down to his hip, around, and back up.

He did it once, and then again, and again. While on the outside he remained calm, on the inside he was squirming around like a girl. It was _huge!_ He could fit his hand inside of it, or both of his hands. Maybe his mom was right…

Hearing her walking back towards him, Jack opened his eyes and sat up to see June holding several pills and a glass of water. His mouth and throat reminded him how dry they were when he saw the glass and he accepted both the pills and water gratefully, popping the pills into his mouth and draining the glass after them.

Jack ignored how tender his stomach felt and turned towards Arcee and Bumblebee only to see them looking at his side now that the blanket was out of the way. Fighting the urge to look at his side Jack smiled tiredly at Arcee.

Returning the smile somewhat tentatively Arcee walked towards him and asked quietly, "How are you?"

Jack could hear the concern in her voice and shrugged, "As well as I can be. Learning that you got run over by a car isn't an everyday occurrence." When Arcee didn't look convinced he let out a little laugh, "Hey at least it wasn't a Con."

Arcee's eyes furrowed, "Don't even joke about that." She huffed. But a small smile cracked her face.

They both turned as Ratchet began yelling at someone in the doorway. "I don't care if you just want to say hello! Jack needs his rest and I won't allow you to come in with that _gutter_, and give everyone a processor ache!"

Miko's voice shot back, "First of all, its call a _guitar_ not a gutter, and second we haven't seen him since he got hurt! Can't we just peak in and wave? I promise to not play the guitar."

"Please Ratchet? I've been worried about him."

When Bumblebee heard Rafael speak he quickly made his way around Ratchet and held out his hand. Before Ratchet could do anything Bumblebee slipped back around him with Rafael in his hand and began walking towards Jack.

"Ra-Bumblebee get back here!" Ratchet stuttered agitatedly remaining where he was so that Miko didn't waltz in.

"How come he gets to see Jack and I don't?" Miko complained. Ratchet turned back to reprimand Bumblebee and Miko darted between his pedes.

It took a second for Ratchet to realize that Miko had made a run for it, "Hey!"

Jack barely had time to pull the blanket up to cover his side before Bumblebee set Rafael down next to him and Miko got Arcee to lift her up.

"Hey Jack!" Miko said happily, ignoring Ratchet's glare. Her guitar was resting on her hip and she had her typical pink ponytails and wardrobe. "About time you woke up. I thought that you would sleep for-_ever_."

"We were worried about you." Rafael added pushing his glasses up. He nodded when Bumblebee chirruped, "Everyone was."

"It's nice to see you to guys," Jack said making sure that the blanket was covering his side. He knew that Miko would most likely have a morbid fascination with his missing side, but Rafael might not be so keen on seeing the wound. He wanted to reassure them that everything was going to be alright, as well as convince himself that everything was fine.

"Time to go, as you can see he's fine and needs rest." Ratchet said crossing his arms impatiently.

"Oh come on Ratchet," Miko whined before a smile grew on his face. "He said he was happy to see us. You don't want to kick us out do?"

Ratchet muttered something under his breathe that sounded a lot like a 'yes' and sighed. "You have three minutes." He said walking over to where June was on a counter.

Jack watched him go over to his mother and felt slightly guilty for him. Even though Ratchet wasn't particularly good at expression any emotion besides irritation Jack knew that he cared for them. It took a second for him to realize that Rafael had asked him a question. "What?"

Rafael repeated his question. "Me and Miko were wondering if you're feeling ok. I mean you got into a car wreck so-"

"So do you have any awesome battle scars?" Miko asked beating Rafael to the punch and looking excited at the prospect. Jack Looked at Rafael and was surprised to see that he seemed interested in the idea as well. He bemused that if he did show them his side that Miko would gap and then pull her cell phone for a picture while Rafael would probably get sick. Maybe showing something less extreme would pass them over.

Making sure to not let them see his side he reached down and pulled the blanket up so that they could see the cast. "Does breaking my leg count?" He asked. Just as he suspected Miko's phone appeared out of nowhere and she snapped a picture, and Rafael gave him a sympathetic look.

"Hopefully it will for Sierra," Miko said texting.

It took a second for the sentence to sink in for Jack and he looked at Miko with alarm. "Wait, what do you mean for Sierra-"

"-And sent!" Miko said giving Jack a smirk at his bewildered and slightly mortified expression. "Oh come on, it's a small school and news travels fast. When people started asking we just told the truth. You were in a car accident and were getting treated for it." She looked back at Ratchet and June who were discussing something and smirked, "Special treatment."

"You have Sierra's number?" Jack blurted out.

Miko rolled her eyes, "Well duh, I have everyone's number. There isn't one person in the school who I don't have in here." She shook her phone for a second before returning it to her pocket. "Except for Vince's, I got rid of his number a _long_ time ago."

Absently she pulled her guitar and started to fiddle with it while asking Rafael about some class project they were doing.

As Rafael replied Jack laid back down and let the conversation fade into the background. The painkillers that June had given him were kicking in and the fiery ache had faded almost completely away, and made him feel a little tired. Whatever him mom had put on his side had also helped.

He knew that he should be worried about what would happen later, but it was hard to imagine that nothing had happened with Miko strumming her guitar and Rafael talking to Bumblebee. All he had to do was ignore his discomforts and he was falling asleep on the couch in the main room.

…

Ratchet chronometer told him that three human minutes had past just as the sound of Miko's guitar hit his audio receptors. Spinning around he marched quickly over to the berth and plucked Miko off the edge of the berth.

"Hey!" She exclaimed as she went tumbling into his other servo albeit gently. "What's the big idea?"

"Hush," he said pointing towards Jack who was fast asleep. Miko looked where he had pointed and had the decency to appear embarrassed. Ratchet looked around for Rafael, but figured that Bumblebee had already taken his charge and began walking for the doorway, setting Miko down at the entrance.

"Now go bother somebody else."

Miko gave an impish grin and said, "You know, I never did get a recording of Bulkhead screaming about Scraplets." Before dashing off.

Ratchet shuddered and briefly wondered where she would find a Scraplet before realizing he didn't want to know. The med-bay was now empty besides himself, June, and Jack. Optimus had left to do monitor duty while Arcee was due for patrol. Walking over to June he held out a servo for her to step on which she did. He knew that she was doing several nightshifts now so that she could be here during the day, and it was almost time for her to leave.

"Let me check on Jack before I head home," She said and Ratchet nodded.

After June was sure that Jack was fine and sent through the ground bridge Ratchet made his way back to the med-bay.

Past all the medical berths and equipment in the back of the room stood a corner that Ratchet called his office. It was a poor excuse for one, but it was how the base had been set up, and Ratchet had used spare parts and equipment to construct a pile tall enough to be called a wall for a little more privacy. He used his office to perform some of his personal experiments and studies and the one that he was interested in was currently underneath a microscope.

The fragment under scrutiny was soaked in a clear liquid meant to clean any and all bacteria, organic matter, and paint chips. Despite this it remained a dark ebony and seemed to soak up the backlight.

Ratchet had run a few test and was very interested in the results that it gave. They weren't concrete however, he would need to run a few more tests to be sure. And if the results were the same...

**A/N: Sorry it took so long to upload. School is hell-bent on making life miserable for me, and I was trying to create a substantial plot for this story. Until next time!**


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